Suspect: I stole money clip but not jacket

A shoplifting suspect admitted May 20 that he had stolen a $75 money clip from a Novi department store, but claimed he thought he had paid for an $85 jacket that police say he'd hidden under his own jacket, according to a police report.

The man, 28, was arrested after a security worker at Nordstrom, at Twelve Oaks Mall, confronted him as he left the store just before noon May 20, a Novi Police Department report said. The money clip and the North Face jacket were reportedly recovered.

The employee told police she had recognized the man from a previous incident and watched on closed-circuit television as he took off his jacket, put on the North Face jacket and then put his own jacket back on. He then picked up a money clip and put it in a pocket of the shorts he was wearing, purchased a pair of pants and left the store, the employee said. That's when she confronted him.

The salesman who rang up the pants purchase did not recall a money clip or a jacket, the security employee said.

Police said security video corroborated the security employee's version of events, and also showed the suspect taking price tags off the jacket and money clip.

At the police station, the suspect told an officer that a salesperson had been with him when he tried on the jacket and that that person had taken the tag and an anti-theft device off of it, the report said. He reportedly said he believed he had been charged for the jacket when he paid for the pants, but that he had not taken it off to be rung up.

The man admitted to stealing the money clip, saying he had lost his own within the previous week, police said

He was released on bond with a citation for third-degree retail fraud and a court date.

Copper theft

Ten rolls of copper wire, worth a total of $5,000, were reported stolen May 22 from a job site on Cabot Drive.

The copper had been taken between the afternoon of May 20 and about 7 a.m. May 22, a police report said. It had been stored in a locked room at the site; police found no signs of forced entry.

Corvette tire slashed

A tire on a Chevrolet Corvette was found slashed on the morning of May 23. The car was parked in the driveway of a home on Carousel Street at the time.

Police said there were four punctures in the sidewall of the right front tire. The complainant, who was not able to find any witnesses, told police the vandalism occurred between 10 p.m. May 22 and 8 a.m. May 23.